


The Raven Queen's Final Gift

by tails_i_tell_myself



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Near-death Experiences, it's not really lots of violence, more cannon typical violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-04 21:51:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14029491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tails_i_tell_myself/pseuds/tails_i_tell_myself
Summary: From the prompt: holding their lover's dead body in their arms





	The Raven Queen's Final Gift

Kravitz fell backwards and Taako felt a scream ripped from his throat. He watched Kravitz topple from his perch atop the stone outcropping, a massive spear buried in his chest. His legs couldn’t move fast enough, he couldn’t get there fast enough. Kravitz hit the ground with a sickening thud before Taako could get to him.

Taako dropped to his knees next to Kravitz, who wasn’t moving. The spear stuck out of his chest at a right angle, sunk right through his sternum. Taako could feel his hands shaking over Kravitz’s body, totally at a loss for what to do now. He didn’t know how to heal. He didn’t have any kind of healing magic. Merle was so far away, there was nothing he could do.

“Hey, Krav baby, stay with me. Krav, please, open your eyes. Fuck, Krav, don’t do this to me. Don’t you fucking dare, babe.” Taako lifted Kravitz’s head gingerly, resting it on his knees. The elf slid his hands over Kravitz’s cheeks, smoothing back his braids. He could feel the reaper’s shallow breathing. This was his fucking fault. This was all on Taako. Fuck, this was how it was gonna go.

“Taako…” Kravitz’s voice was so quiet, so broken. Taako felt the tears welling in his eyes and brushed them away impatiently.

“I’m right here, babe. I’m gonna find a way to save you. I promise. You can’t fucking leave me. You promised.” He gave a sharp laugh, fingering the ring on Kravitz’s left hand. “You fucking promised, you bastard.” Taako dug in his bag with his free hand. He needed something, anything to stop the bleeding and oh god what if it was poisoned? Could a normal spear kill a reaper?

“Taako!” His head snapped up at Magnus’ voice from across the battlefield. The man was running full-tilt towards the fallen reaper and elf. Taako looked up where Magnus was pointing. A massive boulder was falling towards them. Taako reached for his wand, hands still trembling. He summoned whatever focus he could and shot a giant fireball at the falling stone. It shattered into a million pieces, shrapnel flying in every direction. Magnus covered his face with his arms as he kept running, skidding to a halt in front of them. He knelt next to Taako, putting one large hand on Taako’s shoulder.

“What can I do? What does he need?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know where Merle is. There’s so much blood…”

“Taako…”

“No, baby, hush, it’s ok, we’re gonna get you some help. You’re gonna fucking be ok. You fucking promised you’d be ok.”

“Taako, please…”

“No, Krav, you’re gonna start talking about how this isn’t the end and shit, but you listen to me, when you talk like that I know it means our time is up. I’m going to save your ass and annoy you for a real long time.” Taako looked around frantically, waving an arm over his head in a hope to get Merle’s attention.

—

Tears had started falling from Kravitz’s eyes as he gazed at Taako. His Taako, his sweet husband, the love of his life and un-life and whatever strange pseudo life the last few years had been. He knew he was slipping farther and farther away. He could hear the Raven Queen calling to him, asking him to come home.

My son, it’s almost your time. Please don’t make this difficult. It is time to come home. It is time to sleep.

My Lady, please, let me stay with him. I can’t lose him. I just found him.

He could feel the Raven Queen ruffle her feathers in thought. He pressed harder. My Lady, is there anything you wouldn’t do to stay with your love? Is there anything you wouldn’t overcome to remain with Lady Istus? He knew he had her there.

The Raven Queen’s consciousness pushed against his own, trying to make a decision. You know how I feel about bending the rules of fate, even for my own emissary.

Yes, my Queen, I do. But please, for him. I can’t leave him here. I can’t leave him like this. 

Kravitz could feel the tears on his corporeal face falling faster than they had been. He could feel Taako’s hands smoothing over his cheeks, his hair, his shoulders, anywhere the elf could reach without moving Kravitz too much. He could feel other hands on his body, too. Large, sturdy hands, Magnus’ hands, pressing on his chest with all their might. It hurt a little. He could feel magic, too. It was a magic he had avoided becoming too familiar with, Merle’s magic. It was sharp and green and new, pushing into his body through the gaping hole in his chest.

My brave son. The Raven Queen projected her decision directly into his mind. Kravitz felt his heart sink a little. This was going to hurt. A lot.

Kravitz opened his eyes, focusing as much as he could on Taako’s stricken face above him. He opened his mouth, taking in a deep breath that made his bones ache. And then he spoke

“Taako, look at me. Please.” Taako’s eyes snapped to his immediately, the elf cradling his face in his long-fingered hands.

“I’m right here Krav. We’re gonna make you ok.”

“My love, you have to listen to me. What’s about to happen is going to scare you. I need you to trust me. Do you trust me, Taako?” Taako looked like he was about to burst into tears, but he gave a tiny nod. Kravitz closed his eyes, taking another aching breath. He was going to have to get used to this feeling.

Kravitz turned his head to the side to look at Merle. The cleric was flipping through his holy book as fast as his stubby fingers would move. 

“Merle?” Kravitz strained to make his voice louder. The dwarf stopped flipping through pages, leaning in attentively.

“Merle, the Raven Queen is going to help me. Don’t be scared.”

A dark, black magic began to pool in his stomach, spreading upwards and outwards. It pushed away the clean, green Magic Merle had placed near his heart. Magnus jerked his hands away from Kravitz’s chest like he had been burned. Kravitz could feel Taako trembling above him and reached out a hand to hold onto his husband. If he stayed grounded, he could do this. That’s what the Raven Queen had said. With his free hand, he reached up and pulled the spear from his body, tossing it aside as blood flowed freely from his ribcage. Dark sticky blood poured out of the reaper, staining the ground around their party. Taako let out a tiny, choked sob, gripping Kravitz’s hand tighter. Kravitz focused the blackness on the gaping hole in his torso, willing it to stitch him back together. If this was the last gift his Queen would give him, then he was going to use every ounce of it.

—

Taako watched in awe as Kravitz’s body began to knit itself back together. The lines in his face smoothed. The bleeding stopped as skin repaired itself, pink and shiny at first and slowly fading to the dark brown color of Kravitz’s skin. He gripped his husband as tightly as he could, so scared of what letting go would mean. Merle and Magnus sat back just slightly, giving Kravitz room to work whatever kind of magic this was.

Kravitz was breathing hard as the magic slowly drained from his body. His head slipped sideways in exhaustion. Taako ran a shaking hand over his husband’s cheek, expecting to feel the icy cold he had become so used to. Instead, he felt warm flesh beneath his fingers. He slid his hand farther down, placing two fingers on Kravitz’s neck. A pulse. There was a steady, human pulse there. The elf flicked his eyes over the face he had learned so well. Kravitz looked younger than Taako had ever seen him. He looked like he couldn’t have been older than his early twenties. There were no wrinkles around his eyes or on his brow. Taako felt his breath catch in his throat as Kravitz opened his eyes. Brown. They were brown, not red.

“Did it work?” Kravitz’s voice was raspy, like he hadn’t used it in a long time. Taako felt the tears falling down his cheeks as he pulled Kravitz into a sitting position and threw his arms around the much younger man. Kravitz returned the embrace with as much enthusiasm as he could muster, clutching Taako like he was the only real thing in the whole world.

“It worked, baby. I don’t know what you did, but it fucking worked,” Taako whispered into his ear. Kravitz buried his face into Taako’s neck, smelling his hair and feeling the smooth skin of the elf’s neck.

“I told you it would be ok. I told you so.” Kravitz tried to hide the smile from his voice, but Taako could hear it anyways. He drew back just far enough to catch Kravitz’s lips with his own.

“I thought I was gonna lose you.”

“My Queen took pity on you.”

“Tell her I will pray to her every single day until I die.”

“I can’t tell her anything.”

Taako looked at him quizzically, sitting back on his heels, arms still around Kravitz.

“What did you do?”

Kravitz looked around at Merle and Magnus, who were looking in opposite directions, trying and failing to give Taako and Kravitz privacy. Kravitz went to pull away from Taako just a little, show a little self control, but the elf was having exactly none of it. He clung to Kravitz as though he was afraid the bard would disappear if he let go.

“I told you, my Queen took pity on you. She gave me back the amount of time I was supposed to have, a trade for the power I wielded for her. I’m not her emissary anymore. I’m not a reaper. I’m just a man, like I was supposed to be.” Kravitz looked at Taako, letting the elf process the information.

“You’re human?”

“One hundred percent, all natural, non-magical human.” Taako looked stunned for a moment, but then apparently decided it wasn’t worth it to waste any more time questioning Kravitz. He cupped the man’s face in his hands and kissed him again, hard. Kravitz responded with enthusiasm, wrapping his arms around Taako’s waist and holding him, as though for the first time.

Merle clearing his throat was their cue to break apart. Taako looked like he would happily murder Merle if it meant he could keep kissing Kravitz.

“I know we’re having this sweet moment and whatever, but we still have some problems we need to deal with.” The dwarf pointed to the smoldering fires scattered across the battlefield. Between them, various gerblins and soldiers were picking up their weapons and advancing on the quartet hiding under the overhanging rock.

Taako stood in one smooth motion, pushing Kravitz behind his slender frame. Kravitz felt fear for the first time in several centuries. He didn’t remember how to fight without magic. He didn’t have a weapon anymore. Fuck.

Merle and Magnus stood on either side of Taako, ready to take on the approaching foes. Taako reached back and found Kravitz’s hand. He took it and pressed something into the man’s palm. Kravitz looked down. It was Taako’s stone of farspeech. They needed backup.

Kravitz wasted no time adjusting the stone to Killian’s frequency. When the orc answered, there was an edge of anxiety in her voice.

“Killian, we’re trapped and we’re outnumbered. We need help. We can hold them off for a little while, but we don’t have much time.”

“Kravitz? Whats happening?”

“We’re outside Goldcliff, down in the gorge. Please, hurry.” He disconnected the stone before she could protest or ask any more questions.

Taako glanced over his shoulder at Kravitz, suddenly hyperaware of how breakable his husband was. The elf raised his wand in his right hand, his left arm outstretched, keeping Kravitz securely behind him.

“You boys ready for this?” The elf’s voice was strained, but it did not break under the oncoming pressure. Merle and Magnus nodded, leveling their weapons. Kravitz stayed firmly planted where Taako could protect him.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my second work that I'm publishing here. It's got some storytelling issues, but I wanted to post something and this is the thing that's finished. Let me know what you think!


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